An organisation that provides free supermarket food to people in need has urged Southwark community groups to take advantage of its services, writes Kit Heren…
FareShare works with chains like Tesco, Asda and Waitrose to get unsold food to thousands of charities and other local groups across the UK to be dished out to disadvantaged people in their areas.
One of the groups that partners with FareShare elsewhere in London is the Hindu Shree Jalaram Temple in Greenford.
Dr Mansukh Morjaria, a trustee at Shree Jalaram Temple, said: “Without the food we receive from Tesco and FareShare, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do.
“It has made a massive impact and it would be a struggle for us if we didn’t get the food.
“To date we have carried out 6,200 collections from Tesco stores and have fed more than 280,000 people in need, including rough sleepers, homeless people, the elderly, families in hardship, those in homeless hostels and homes, school children during various holiday periods.
“We depend on the donations and it’s a big help to us. We can only do this because we have community support from people who visit the temple and from organisations like FareShare.”
Lindsay Boswell, Chief Executive at FareShare, said: “Through our FareShare Go scheme, we work closely with retailers to ensure that no good food goes to waste, and ends up on people’s plates instead of landfill.
“We know that there are thousands of people going hungry across the UK, and many frontline charities and community groups offering much needed support where they can. I would urge any organisation to sign up to FareShare Go and access free surplus food.”
FareShare said it helped save enough food to make about 57 million meals last year, working with nearly 11,000 community groups.
Any organisations who want to receive regular donations of surplus food through the programme can register on the FareShare website: www.fareshare.org.uk/fareshare-go